When you visit your favorite restaurant, go to a doctor’s appointment in downtown Houston, or attend an Astros game in Minute Maid Park, you are classified as an invitee, the legal term for a visitor to commercial property under premises liability law. Your host, which is usually the property owner or manager, is expected to keep dangers at bay so your experience does not end in a catastrophe.
You have rights if you trip over grocery store carpeting, slip on an icy sidewalk in front of a hardware store, or are attacked in a parking lot due to the lack of lights or security. A Houston commercial property injury lawyer can help you exercise those rights.
The only duty commercial property owners owe to adult trespassers (those who have no right to be on a piece of land and are there without the owner’s knowledge) is to not purposely harm them, including with a firearm.
Child trespassers, however, are owed a duty according to the Attractive Nuisance Doctrine. This doctrine acknowledges that children act impulsive because their brains are not fully developed. They are attracted to artificial perils, such as swimming pools and playgrounds, and property owners are expected to reasonably restrict their access using fences, locked gates, and any measure prescribed by the city or county.
Social visitors are known as licensees, and although owners have a duty to point out known dangers, the highest duty of care is owed to invitees because they are visiting to benefit a commercial property owner.
Owners welcoming invitees have a duty to warn them about dangerous conditions they know about, but also to repair them and inspect the premises for unknown dangers, repairing them as they are discovered. A Houston commercial premises liability attorney will review the facts of an accident to determine whether an invitee should be compensated because a property owner was negligent.
Negligence is the basis of a premises liability lawsuit. Unless the owner is irresponsible enough to cause harm, a plaintiff will not prevail. Plaintiffs must prove the owner had a duty to warn, repair, and discover unknown dangers, but breached that duty by not doing what a reasonable person would do. This then causes a foreseeable accident that injured them. Common commercial property negligence claims include:
Houston attorneys advise clients injured on commercial premises when owners are negligent. Our successful track record securing substantial damages awards is based on the belief that the injured deserve justice and negligent individuals should be held accountable.
Although commercial business owners are often careful to maintain their properties so invitees are safe when they visit, others take unlawful chances to save money, putting visitors at risk of injuries. If you are one of the injured, let our personal injury attorneys help.
A Houston commercial property injury lawyer will review your situation, discuss a strategy to get you compensated, and fight in court to recover damages for medical and rehabilitative care, lost wages, recurring pain, and the emotional trauma you are enduring. Call now to schedule your free consultation.
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